Had a starting problem this weekend

[v1xiii]

For some reason, my '88 quest was briefly having trouble starting this weekend.  Had been starting and running fine all day, but when I went to start it this time, it would idle slowly for a couple seconds then die.  Giving it gas made no difference, it just wasn't getting to the engine.  After a few tries of that, I had nothing but starter.  I figured that since the car was parked sideways on an incline (driver side being the low side) that I would push it so it was facing nose down as a last resort in case that was the problem somehow.  I let it sit like that for 5 minutes or so, and she fired right back up and drove home with no problems.

 

To eliminate some possibilities... injectors/clips were replaced last summer, and all fusible links were replaced last fall.

 

What's the deal here? Could it have actually been the incline for some reason?

 

 

 

 

 

[ColdScrip]

How much fuel was in the tank? How old is the fuel pump?

[Starfighterpilot]

I had something very similiar happen to my '88 Starion a couple of years ago. Drove fine all day long. Then trying to get moving from a stop lite - could barely get her past about 1600 RPM's with the accelerator pedal floored and no power at all. I could barely get her down the street into a parking lot.

 

I checked the injector clips - nothing wrong; among other things, I hooked up the primary injector clip to the secondary injector she started; & checked the ignitor and the air filter cannister electrical connectors. I played around with her for about 1/2 hour and could not figure out what was wrong. :mad:

 

Finally, in frustration, I disconnected the battery for about 5 minutes to let everything electrical reset. Hooked up the battery and she started right up and she ran fine. I had full power again.

 

I posted this problem here in VM but no one could come up with an answer other than the ECU somehow got "confused" and needed to be reset (rebooted).

 

Even tho you didn't disconnect your battery, letting your Starquest just sit for 5 minutes might have been sufficient to reset the ECU (no power to it with the ignition switch turned off).

 

The next weekend I went through all of the electrical sensors, connectors and grounds in the engine house plus the ECI Control Relay and the Ignitor, even tho I had checked/cleaned them about 2 months ago. I did not find anything corroded, loose or disconnected. <_ src="%7B___base_url___%7D/uploads/emoticons/default_mellow.png" alt=":mellow:">

 

I haven't had that problem since and 80K miles later I'm still running the same ECU & ignitor. All of the fuel system filters and strainers were clean and I'm still running the same fuel pump.

 

 

This may be off the wall - You might want to check the turbo accordian hose and at the air inlet to the TB connector hose for cracks or loose connectors or hose connections.

 

For What It's Worth.

 

KEN

 

 

 

BTW - This may be off the wall, BUT - You may want to remove and clean your ignition switch contacts. Last year when Grant and I cleaned mine I had a DEEP pit and heavy corrosion at the IGN1 & IGN2 contact surfaces. At that time I was having electrical issues other than the EFI system. However your IGN1 (which supplies power to the EFI circuit) contact surface may be heavily corroded causing reduced voltage to the EFI ECU. It does not like any voltage less than 9 volts to it. Your ignition switch may have been in just the right position on the corroded pit (which you DO have if the ignition switch has never been cleaned) at that IGN1 contact to cause low voltage to the EFI ECU.

 

What does you dash volt meter read at idle, at night,turn signal pulsing, with the lights and heater fan on high? If it drops below 12 Volts it's time to clean the ignition switch and ALL of your electrical contacts in the engine house.

Edited January 26, 2010 by Starfighterpilot

[v1xiii]

There was over 1/4 tank, and as far as I know it's probably the original fuel pump (definitely on my to-do list).

 

 

 

 

As for the voltage thing, I do in fact have the problems you described.  Increased load does cause the volt meter to go below 12v, the main culprit is the turn signal, second being the brakes.  Also when the car is cold started, the volts and rpm's are quite low until I give it some juice and hold it there for a 15 seconds or so, after that it holds it's own.